FANTASY STOCK MARKET: Defense

In a dynasty league, the most valuable asset is the team owner’s ability to know when to buy players who are on the cusp of breaking out and knowing when to cut loose a player who is about to go into decline. Much like the real world stock market, making the wrong decisions sometime can lead to cataclysmic consequences. If you are in a league where you can unload or load up on some of these players, do so!

The good news for people seeking to gain Cravens is that they shouldn’t have much competition. Cravens saw a little less then 40 percent of snaps last year while he was utilized in both linebacker and a safety role last year but going into 2017, it looks like he will be primarily only a safety which could spell good news for people who manage to obtain Cravens. Add in the fact that Philadelphia, Dallas and the New York Giants are going to have good quarterback play next year should provide plenty of opportunities for Cravens to make big plays.

Ward is now 30, which as we all know is the relative age where one must start evaluating how much more value the player is really going to have. Combine this with a new coach and defensive coordinator who might not be as good to Ward’s fantasy value as Wade Phillips was, I would suggest possibly moving him for a draft pick to get a young defensive back who can help you in the future.

Signing with Chicago may seem like a horrible career choice but for Hicks it is a miracle in disguise. New England is loaded down with great defensive ends, but in Chicago Hicks can play almost every snap due to their awful depth chart. He finished as an average defensive end last season but I wouldn’t be surprised if he finishes in the Top 10 next season.

Looking at Pierre-Paul’s numbers from last season you would probably say I’m crazy for this, but if you really look at the numbers you will see that almost half of his numbers came from two games. Games against Chicago and … Cleveland. It is not much to say that you can go off against those teams, so in hindsight I would like to save my picks or salary for other players.

A rookie who went unowned in most fantasy leagues, I managed to stash him early mainly because I owned some other Baltimore linebackers and I am super excited. With Elvis Dumervil and Terrell Suggs aging, I would definitely invest high in Judon if you can because he will be paying off huge.

Toomer is coming off of a great season. I lost to the Toomer owner in Week 10 in one of his great games but when 2017 starts, the San Diego linebackers will be healthy and he more than likely won’t be starting over Jatavis Brown or Denzel Perryman. The only downside of this is with the addition of Gus Bradley as defensive coordinator, the team may make some changes and incorporate a 4-3 instead of a 3-4. Either way, I would much rather make an early profit off of him than wait and potentially get less.

About Chase Crampton

If you've ever wondered just who writes the news that scrolls by on the ticker at the bottom of your television screen, it's Chase, who currently works for one of the major sporting networks as a ticker writer and also writes here at Fantasy Sharks.